Ben Sowter

Head of Division

Ben is from Nottingham, England. After moving around a lot, he returned to the University of Nottingham where he undertook a BSc in Computer Science. Upon graduation, Ben spent two years working for the UK national office of international student charity, AIESEC, for which he was ultimately elected National President.

Ben leads the QS Intelligence Unit who are fully responsible for the operational management of all major QS research projects including the QS Top MBA Applicant and Recruiter Research, the QS World University Rankings® and the QS Asian University Rankings.

Ben has travelled to over 40 countries and spoken on his research in over 20. He has personally visited over 35 of the world’s top 100 universities amongst countless others and is also a regular speaker on the conference circuit.

Ben is married and has two sons, and if he had any free time it would be spent reading, watching movies and skiing.

QS Intelligence Unit

Jason Newman

Global Commercial Director

Jason Newman is the Commercial Director for the QS Intelligence Unit and Commercial Director for QS Australia/New Zealand.

Based in QS London HQ, he has worked in events and promotions for the last 22 years and specifically in international education for the past 12 years. He has run a portfolio of international student recruitment products and services that include undergraduate and postgraduate recruitment fairs, publications and websites.

Jason was part of the launch team for the QS Star ratings and has been instrumental in the development of the QSIU products and services. Jason is a regular speaker at International HE events including AIEC, NAFSA, EAIE, QS APPLE and CBIE. When not working Jason has a passion for running, horse riding and travel.

QS Intelligence Unit

Leigh Kamolins

Head of Operations

Leigh is originally from Melbourne, Australia. He has a Master’s degree in European and International Studies from Monash University, including a semester studying at King’s College London, and a BA in History and Politics from Monash University. He is also an experienced and qualified project manager, holding a Prince2 practitioner qualification.

He has worked widely in research and project management roles in the public sector in Australia and the United Kingdom. Leigh led a team reporting on the UK Government’s structural reform of the school system in England – one of the largest overhauls that the English state school system has ever seen. In Australia he worked for a government agency delivering anti-corruption and human rights research, where he widely examined system and organisational issues that were posing barriers to change.

Since joining the QS Intelligence Unit, Leigh has been working with analytical colleagues to ensure the smooth delivery of QS Stars rating system and the benchmarking service, among other QS Intelligence Unit services.

QS Intelligence Unit

Sales & Marketing Team

Nicholas Sequeira

Senior Regional Manager- UK, EU & Turkey

Nic is a senior professional with sales and customer relationship experience in Higher Education across strategy, marketing, business intelligence and international education.

Leveraging over 11 years’ experience within the sector & an excellent understanding of the UK, EU & International Higher Ed landscape who has comfortably using strategic and consultative sales approaches.An accomplished sales professional with a proven track record with an ambition to help customers to succeed.

He is a firm believer in lifelong learning and that education changes lives.Started working QS since 2007 and looks forward to the opportunity to connect with you soon.

QS Intelligence Unit

Dr. Christina Yan Zhang

China Director

Christina has a BA in English, MA in Media Studies and PhD in Civil Engineering. She has served on more than 20 international committees, advised transnational education working with UNESCO, the World Bank, Commonwealth Secretariat, European Commission. She is a regular speak at international conferences on global education strategy alongside government, business, and education leaders.

Christina leads QS’ China work. In January 2016, China’s Vice Premier Liu Yandong endorsed QS World University Ranking at a major speech in State Council highlighting the future 5 years plan (2016-2020) for 2236 Chinese universities of 48 million students, with an annual budget allocated at £120bn.

QS Intelligence Unit

Natalia Burbano

Marketing Manager

Natalia is Colombian and holds Master in Marketing and a Master in Management from Durham University, and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Universidad del Rosario in Colombia. She also did a term-exchange in Nankai University in China.

She has more than 10 years of experience in international higher education, having worked in the fields of recruitment, marketing, study abroad, exchanges, advisement, placement, strategic agreements, and partnerships.

Natalia is fluent in Spanish, English, and French, and speaks basic Portuguese.

QS Intelligence Unit

Juan Carlos Mejia

Regional Director- Latinamerica

Juan Carlos is originally from Colombia. An international networker with 13+ years of experience working on human/professional capacity building, mainly from the higher education sector.

He has advanced relationship and negotiation skills, gained through constant interaction with executives of large global organizations, local and nationalities authorities in several cities and countries around the globe.

The constant exposure to diverse environments, has increased his understanding of the work ethics in different parts of the world.

QS Intelligence Unit

Larisa Osipova

Regional Manager- Eastern Europe & Central Asia

Larisa is originally from Russia and holds a Bachelor degree in economics from Russia as well as BSs (hons) in Computing Science from Middlesex University in London.

She has a substantial experience of working in events services and developing new business relationships across a variety of sectors with the focus on CIS (The Commonwealth of Independent States consisted of former Soviet Republics) region.

At QS Larisa is responsible for creating and maintaining successful long term partnerships with the institutions from Central Europe and Central Asia region.

QS Intelligence Unit

Chanthip Jiwnarai

Events Coordinator

Chanthip is from Thailand. She graduated from the University of London Metropolitan with a BA in International Business Management. Chanthip is a passionate and professional Event organiser with over 5 years’ experience working with agency, in-house and public sectors delivering a wide variety of events in the UK, Europe and overseas for numbers ranging from 10 – 250 delegates.

In her spare time she like to cook for friends and explore new cultures around London.

QS Intelligence Unit

Ashwin Fernandes

Regional Manager- India, Middle East & North Africa

Ashwin has been with QS since 2012, starting off from the regional base in Singapore. He is responsible for working with institutions in Middle East, North Africa and India. He is also responsible to liaise with governmental and public agencies in these regions to create a strong affiliation with QS, which would help in better understanding local institutions. He is currently pursuing his PhD on university rankings and reputation.

He has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Marketing degree along with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Financial Accounting, Auditing & Taxation.

QS Intelligence Unit

Colleen Miles

Regional Manager- USA

Colleen is originally from New Jersey and has a BA in Communications with a focus on Business. She has studied, lived, and worked in education abroad in Spain, Costa Rica, and Mexico. Upon returning to the United States, she spent 10 years in New York and currently resides in Denver, Colorado.

Colleen has over 12 years’ experience in international education, particularly regarding Intensive English, University Pathway, and World Languages programs. Colleen has in-depth knowledge of international student recruitment and agencies and has worked on various sales, marketing, and business development projects for international language schools and companies. She has been heavily involved in strategic planning for the language travel industry at senior management level.

QS Intelligence Unit

Product Managers

Martin Juno

Product Development Manager

Martin has extensive experience in economic and business data analysis. He holds a degree in Business and, upon graduation, he joined Fundacion Global, a prestigious think-tank from Argentina where he worked for 10 years as Research & Data Manager, leading several projects and outreach programmes.

Martin joined QS Intelligence Unit in 2011 to help publish the first edition of the QS University Rankings: Latin America. Over the years, he acquired an in-depth understanding of the global higher education landscape.

He is currently leading the development of data & insights services for higher education institutions.

He likes to spend time immersing himself in XIX century literature & philosophy, reading Lovecraftian tales, writing and admiring oil paintings.

QS Intelligence Unit

Alice Wei Wei

QS Analytics / Rankings Tracker

Wei Wei is from China. She has a Master‘s degree in Comparative Education awarded by the Institute of Education, UCL and a Bachelor’s degree in German Language and Literature from Shanghai International Studies University.

Before joining QS, she worked as a journalist in the London office of an international news group, where she was responsible for independent research and producing featured articles on education, property and finance. She also has teaching experience both in secondary schools in the UK and in higher education in China. She believes that education is fundamental to the success of the human civilisation, and is very proud to work in such an important sector of the society.
In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing and the beauty of the English countryside

QS Intelligence Unit

Shiloh Rose

QS Stars

Shiloh has more than eight years’ experience working with higher education institutions. Prior to joining QS she held several roles dealing with HE-specific technology including account manager, training specialist, and product manager.

Joining QSIU in August 2015, Shiloh is the product manager for QS Stars. She works closely with analysts to deliver the ratings and is responsible for the product’s lifecycle, strategy and development.

Originally from North Carolina, USA, Shiloh received a BA in Psychology from East Carolina University and participated in a year-long study abroad programme with the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK.

She’s lived in London for more than 10 years, and in her free time Shiloh enjoys cooking, hiking, reading, cats, and has recently returned to playing the violin.

QS Intelligence Unit

Fernando Coca Martin-Romo

Academic & Employer Reputation Datasets

Fernando is originally from Madrid, Spain where he completed a degree in Business Administration at the University Juan Carlos I.

He started in sales, working for the Santander Group in Madrid before undertaking an internship as a pricing analyst at Teradata. He moved to England in 2011 and joined QSIU in 2014 where he works on the QS rankings and QS Stars projects.

In his spare time he enjoys teaching Spanish cooking classes to private students, photography and running.

QS Intelligence Unit

Deena Al Hilli

Project Manager

Deena is from London and has a BEng in Internet Engineering and an MSc in Technology Exploitation & Management from Queen Mary University of London, UK.

Deena first joined QS in 2006 as an Account Executive working on the World MBA Tour. In 2010, she moved on to the Intelligence Unit, where she works on key projects within the team, she focuses on data driven projects and works with key members of the team to continuously improve efficiency and delivery. Deena is also the lead analyst for the Arab University Rankings.

Deena’s main hobby is baking and cake designing, alongside keeping up to date with Social Media marketing, hockey, fashion, photography and fine art.

QS Intelligence Unit

Analysts

Alexandru Simion

Analyst Team Leader

In the final year of studying for his bachelor degree in Marketing, Alex joined Ipsos where over the course of 9 years he became an expert analyst and eventually a team manager, in the market research industry.

Later on, this experience was brought to QSIU, when he joined as team leader for the Bucharest office, in Romania, in 2016. His active hobby is photography but he’s interests range from graphic design to playing the piano.

QS Intelligence Unit

Raluca Bălan

Junior Analyst

Raluca joined the QSIU team in 2016. She holds an undergraduate degree from Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iasi and a Masters degree from the University of Bucharest. Before joining the QS team, Raluca has worked as an English teacher for children in primary school. She has also worked as a consultant for an education company promoting foreign education and providing support to candidates for studying abroad.

Raluca is from the North-East of Romania and she has lived in Bucharest for more than 5 years. In her spare time, she enjoys travelling and playing video games.

QS Intelligence Unit

Mirela Vlasceanu

Analyst

Mirela is from Romania and joined QS in 2015. She has an MA in Political Theory and Analysis and a PhD in Political Science, both gained through research on higher education policies.

She has worked in the NGO sector on public policy, as well as in EU funded projects for the improvement of doctoral studies in Romania. Before joining the QS team, she has worked for the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education.

QS Intelligence Unit

Saiona Stoian

Junior Analyst

Saiona is originally from a small town near the Black Sea. She moved to Bucharest where she earned a Master in Communication and Advertising from the National School of Political and Administrative Studies and a Master in Visual Studies from the Centre of Excellence in Image Studies, University of Bucharest.

Prior to being an analyst, she tackled teaching as part of her PhD “boot camp” experience and worked as a Candidate Selection Executive at QS, where she reviewed candidate profiles for the Top MBA Connect 121 events and offered personalized consultations for MBA aspirants.

QS Intelligence Unit

Mădălina Ardeleanu

Junior Analyst

Madalina is from Romania, has a degree in International Business and a Master’s in Management of International Projects from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies.

Prior to joining QS, she worked for one year in the Medical Services sector and several years in the Chemical/ Petrochemical industry, dealing mainly with the administration of international orders, contract execution and reporting issues.

QS Intelligence Unit

Iulia Zestroiu

Junior Analyst

Iulia has joined QS in 2016 after an extensive experience working as a freelancer in translations field. She has a bachelor degree in Philology from University Babes-Bolyai, Cluj Napoca mastering at a native level the Spanish language. She also had worked in diplomacy field, acting as a Consular Officer at the Uruguay Embassy in Bucharest.

In QS Team, Iulia is responsible mainly with QS Stars and analytics products for LATAM institutions.

In her spare time she loves to undertake DIY projects and art and crafts. She has a passion for good books, long trips and desserts.

QS Intelligence Unit

Consulting Team

Dr. David Reggio

Global Head of Consulting

Dr. David Reggio is the QS Intelligence Unit’s Global Head of Consulting, a seasoned international advisor and strategist with extensive global experience in partnership building, innovation linkages, research frameworks and frontier science.

He has worked in Latin America, and Brazil particularly, in the fields of government engagement, strategic alliances, public health and frontier research. He has also designed stakeholder management systems, geo-targeting strategies, research strategies and innovation frameworks for institutions and organisations in Asia, the U.S.A, Europe and the Middle East.

QS Intelligence Unit

Zoya Zaitseva

Regional Director- Eastern Europe & Central Asia

Zoya has a Masters in Sociology and over fifteen years experience in education and career consulting, on both the B2B and B2C levels. During this time she led the creation of the strongest MBA & Career consulting company in CIS, before moving to London to join the QS team as a Business Development Manager in 2005.

Zoya’s expertise in university and business school development has been shared at seminars and conferences across the world, as well as in individual consulting projects. Her areas of expertise include internationalisation, student recruitment and brand building for educational institutions.

QS Intelligence Unit

Dr. Shadi Hijazi

Consultant

Shadi joined QS as a senior analyst in its consulting team in 2010. He is a lecturer and consultant in business administration with multinational experience in the UK, Japan and the Arab world. He holds a PhD and Master’s degree from the Graduate School of Business Administration at Kobe University, and a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Economics Faculty of Damascus University. His postgraduate research addressed the interrelationship between business performance and knowledge management tools. He has since been concentrating his work on the strategic planning and implementation of digital marketing solutions and performance improvement.

He is particularly involved in strategy and marketing projects in the higher education sector in projects in Arabic countries and around the world. He has previously consulted SMEs and entrepreneurs in Japan and Syria on enhancing the overall strategy and business vision, improving feasibility studies, and formulating media strategies. He also worked as a part of a larger team in an inter-disciplinary program in Japan.

QS Intelligence Unit

Jacques de Champchesnel

Consultant

Jacques is originally from Brittany. He holds a Master in Management from Essec Business School and a Master in International Relations from Sciences Po.

He engaged in humanitarian and development projects for over ten years mainly in Haiti, Afghanistan and in the Middle East.

After that, Jacques joined the higher education management sector. His various roles have included the strategic orientation and governance of international academic programmes, the general management of a branch campus, the development of extra-curricular activities and comprehensive student and campus life services. He has been teaching as well seminar classes in International Relations at both Bachelor and Master’s levels.

In his free time, Jacques enjoys walking in London, Britain and the world and spending time reading.

QS Intelligence Unit

Market Insight Team

Dasha Karzunina

Market Insights Manager

Dasha has a leading role in conducting and disseminating QSIU’s research, having led a range of market insight and evaluation projects for clients globally. She previously held the position of Education Officer in the second largest Students’ Union in the UK.

Dash has completed a master’s in Higher Education Management from UCL with distinction and has a BSc in Maths and Philosophy from the University of Nottingham.

QS Intelligence Unit

Josie West

Market Insights Researcher

Born in London, Josie studied History and Sociology at the University of Manchester. She enjoys writing about politics, culture and the international higher education sector. She believes international education plays a vital role in bringing people and cultures together.

Before joining QS, she worked as a freelance writer, writing articles for music and culture magazines, as well as a brief journalism role for a MBA-focussed news publication. Josie creates new content in the form of reports, articles, blog posts, conference proposals and presentations. She is competent in social and qualitative research, using a variety of research methods, such as surveys and interviews.

QS Intelligence Unit

Bashier Ali

Market Insight Analyst

Bashier holds a BSc degree in Economics from SOAS and a Masters in Public Policy from the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE). Prior to joining QS, Bashier has spent the last few years working for consultancies based in the telecoms industry as an Analyst for Africa and the Middle Eastern markets.

Currently Bashier analyzes trends from datasets based on QSIU’s quantitative data and he is also responsible for producing in-depth analysis and reports.

In his spare time, Bashier is a long suffering Liverpool FC fan.

QS Intelligence Unit

Data Acquisition Team

Selina Griffin

Rankings Manager

Selina is from the UK and holds a First in Classics from the University of Liverpool as well as an MA from the Open University.
Selina joined QS in May of 2017 as the Rankings Manager.

Prior to this she spent four years working for the University of Oxford in their Development office where she led successful telethons and reinvented the University’s direct mail campaigns. She finished her tenure at Oxford working on their development and alumni relations CRM, developing tools and insight to inform fundraising practice and has spoken about her work in industry conferences.

Selina has always worked in data analysis (featuring in a profile in PC Pro magazine some years ago) previously getting her hands dirty in educational and social care datasets for local government.

QS Intelligence Unit

Ting Qin

Data Acquisition Manager

Ting is originally from Wuhan, China, where she completed her double degree studies in both Fundamental Mathematics and Finance from Wuhan University. She subsequently moved to the UK for further studies and graduated from the University of Edinburgh with an MSc in Financial Mathematics.

Prior joining QS in August 2017, she had over five-year experience working as a data analyst for a financial media company, where she developed her analytical skills and was involved in managing financial analysis projects.

In her spare time, she has been involved in various volunteering programmes including teaching mandarin to young students and NGO experience in Bangalore. She has a keen interest in reading, travel and yoga.

QS Intelligence Unit

Dennis Yu

Rankings Analyst

Dennis is from China. He has completed his master’s program in Media and Communications at City, University of London in 2017. He has a Bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature from Shanghai International Studies University. He started in PR/Admin, working for a leading industrial SOE in China before joining Michael Page China as a Recruitment Consultant. He took a part-time role as a Market Insight Specialist in AB-Inbev Group after he got the master’s program offer.

In his spare time, he enjoys football, E-sports and cooking.

QS Intelligence Unit

Gabriel Maschiao da Costa

Data Acquisition Assistant

Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Gabriel holds a Bachelor in Clinical Psychology (Psychoanalysis) at PUC-SP and a MSc in Economics and Consumer Psychology at Leiden University.

Prior to joining the QS team, Gabriel’s worked with both Quantitative and Qualitative Research at M3 Global Research and at the London School of Economics.

In his spare time, Gabriel enjoys studying metaphysics and skateboarding.

QS Intelligence Unit

Anuja Shenoy

Data Acquisition Assistant

Anuja Shenoy is from Mumbai, India. She has a M.A. degree in European Studies from Manipal University, Manipal, India. As a part of this degree, she spent a year in Universidad Castilla – la Mancha as an exchange student and as an English Language Assistant.

Prior to that she has worked as an English, French and Spanish Language analyst at CMC Ltd, A Tata subsidiary. She is a polyglot who is fluent in seven languages.

In QSIU, she is responsible for client interaction; higher education research; and data collection & verification. In her spare time, she enjoys travelling, trekking, and reading.

QS Intelligence Unit

Ajita Rane

Data Acquisition Assistant

Ajita Rane grew up in Dubai, UAE . She has a BSc(hons) in Biosciences from University of Hertfordshire, U.K. Worked as Jr Market Research Analyst in Greencross Exports -Pharmaceutical company, India and Bioinformatics Research Trainee at Rasa Life Science Informatics, India.

Her roles in QSIU include data collection, research and validation for European, Central Asian and African Universities and Subject Rankings.

In her free time she loves exploring rural and historical places around the world, painting, reading Literature & philosophy.

QS Intelligence Unit

Daniel Kahn

Senior Research Executive

Daniel is originally from Manchester in the United Kingdom but is now based in Paris where he has lived for the past 10 years. He has a BSc(hons) in Computer Science and a BA(hons) in French and Business from Salford University. He speaks English, French and Hebrew.

He has extensive knowledge of the MBA world – heading up the data collection team for research based around QS’s Global 200 report, and has travelled extensively meeting with MBA admission directors at recruitment fairs. He recently researched and implemented the use of NFC technology for QS events. At QS he has also headed up the customer service team for events and management of online school profiles.

Daniel’s travels have taken him to over 50 countries, and the list continues to grow. While studying he worked for 6 years as a professional chef – something that has now become a full time hobby, with him cooking for around 20 people every week, testing out new recipes. He devotes any spare time to religion, doing good deeds and spending time with his wife and sons.

QS Intelligence Unit

Irene-Jay Shin

Senior Research Executive

Originally from South Korea, Irene graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) with a BSc in international relations, as well as attended Ewha Womans University in South Korea and Kyushu University in Japan.

Before joining QS Intelligence Unit (QSIU), she has worked in various sectors, such as government, non-profit sector, and translation.

Her responsibilities now as a senior research executive at QSIU include data collection and validation for QS World University Rankings and QS University Rankings: Asia. Also, she is in charge of the audit process for QS World University Rankings by Subject to ensure all preliminary listed institutions are qualified for the final publication.

Irene loves to play the violin during her leisure time. She has lived in several different countries such as the United States, Japan, and now London.

QS Intelligence Unit

Samuel Wong

Senior Researcher

Samuel is from Singapore and has a Bachelor’s in Economics at the University of Tasmania. His research and analytical skills have been gained from years of exposure to a wide spectrum of research work, stretching from economics research with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Singapore National Printers Ltd, and market research with Thomson Multimedia. Prior to joining QS, he was with a research agency handling quantitative and qualitative research for local and regional clients.

He can understand conversational Mandarin, fluent in English, as well as several Chinese dialects and Malay. He loves sports, particularly watching EPL football matches.

QS Intelligence Unit

Interested in joining the QS Intelligence Unit?

Have a look at the latest positions available in our international offices here